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  • November 4, 2011
  • Christine Davis Mantai
Dr. Donald Barnes
Dr. Donald Barnes  

Professor Donald Barnes of the School of Business is one of the authors of an article selected by the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice as best of the year.  Barnes wrote the article with colleagues from Mississippi State University, Nicole Ponder and Kranti Dugar. 

According to journal editor Greg Marshall, the article, “Investigating the Key Routes to Customer Delight” was a clear winner from among the 28 published articles in 2011.  "A very large number of board members participated in the voting. The honor is heightened due to the fact that the overall volume and quality of great papers published in JMTP is at an all-time high," Marshall said.

About the research behind the article, Dr. Barnes said, “We’ve been able to show that customer satisfaction and customer delight are two distinct things, that one leads to different outcomes. Neither the small business nor the megastore can afford to ignore the reality of customer delight,” he says. “Satisfied customers don’t necessarily come back to your business, whereas people who are delighted do, in fact.”